Dame's "Almost Famous" Chicken & Waffles in Durham
There's nothing "almost" about Dame's Chicken & Waffles.
I've heard for months that Dame's is a must-try and I was lucky enough to indulge for lunch on Wednesday.
Dame encountered a lot of doubters when he initially pitched his idea of serving an entire menu devoted to chicken and waffles but judging from the full dining room we walked into I'd say Dame has officially proven them wrong.
The menu is comprised of, yup you guessed it, 10 "smack yo' mama good" variations of the Southern delicacy, with the option of mixing and matching all of the moving parts to create your own. What exactly are those moving parts?
You've got four main components:
- The Waffle: choice of sweet potato, blueberry, gingerbread, original or vegan
- The Chicken: choice of wings, drumsticks or boneless breast cutlets (fried or grilled)
- The Shmear: (homemade sweet creme butters) choice of orange honeycomb, strawberry cream, baby baby blueberry, peach apricot, vanilla toasted almond, maple pecan or chocolate hazelnut
- The Drizzle: (flavored syrups) choice of honey dijon, caramel drizzle or whiskey cream sauce
Did you ever think Chicken & Waffles could be so complicated? Me neither.
It's that variety and Dame's insistence on fresh ingredients that make this downtown Durham eatery the must-visit it has become in only a year's time.
One last thing, if you're at work and visit Dame's on your lunch break, make sure you leave yourself time for a quick walk around the block after you devour...if not a power nap.
